Why
should you start learning the Past Tense before the Present? Because
it is easier. There’s no infinitive form of the verb in
Gulf Arabic as there is in English (to be, to have, to do, to
go). In dictionaries when looking for a particular verb you will
find it in its Past he-form, which is its “most stable”
form i.e. he was, he had, he did, he went, etc.
Here
are the basic forms: CaCaC, CiCac and CuCaC (e.g. sharab, rimas,
wugaf). You will notice that some of the forms lose the second
vowel (-a-) – a process called elision in linguistics. Also
note that in CaCaC-verbs the she- and they-forms change their
first vowel to –i-.
sharab
– to drink
sharabt – I drank
sharabt – you (male) drank
sharabti – you (female) drank
sharab – he drank
shirbat – she drank
sharabna – we drank
sharabtaw – you (plural) drank
shirbaw – they drank
sharabna
finjaal gahwa – we had (drank) a cup of coffee.
rimas
– to talk (a word used primarily in the United Arab Emirates)
rimast – I talked
rimast – you (male) talked
rimasti – you (female) talked
rimas – he talked
rimsat – she talked
rimastaw – you (plural) talked
rimsaw – they talked
rimast
wiiyya il-mudiir – I talked with the director.
wugaf
– to stop
wugaft – I stopped
wugaft – you (male) stopped
wugafti – you (female) stopped
wugaf – he stopped
wugfat – she stopped
wugafna – we stopped
wugaftaw – you stopped (plural)
wugfaw – they stopped
wugfaw 3ind is-suug
– They stopped at the marketplace.
Why
should you start learning the Past Tense before the Present? Because
it is easier. There’s no infinitive form of the verb in
Gulf Arabic as there is in English (to be, to have, to do, to
go). In dictionaries when looking for a particular verb you will
find it in its Past he-form, which is its “most stable”
form i.e. he was, he had, he did, he went, etc.